The Truck Parking Zone – October 2025

Several municipalities on the East Coast are cracking down on truck parking as truckers are forced to stop on city streets when the 11th hour approaches and no parking is available. However, other local and state governments are helping solve the parking crisis rather than exacerbating it. Sometimes, it feels like for every step forward, there’s a step back.

A lot of complaining, not many solutions

According to Fox 4 in Lehigh Acres, Fla., trucks parking on city streets is becoming a major headache for at least one resident. The news report explains that the issue is getting worse, with the city receiving multiple calls. Enforcement of ordinances will beef up. However, addressing the root problem – a lack of truck parking – does not appear to be a priority. This is a common theme across the country: Punishing the men and women behind the wheel for a locality’s insufficient parking infrastructure.

South Carolina county cracking down on residential truck parking

Meanwhile, in South Carolina, the Orangeburg County Council has passed an ordinance banning tractor-trailers from parking in residential areas. According to the ordinance, the truck parking ban is to protect children from injury, maintain property value, minimize damage to public roadways, reduce parking congestion and eliminate visual blight. The fine is $500. Although the new ordinance is getting a lot of hate on the county’s social media pages, it went through the usual process of several readings and public hearings. There was not a lot of backlash then. This is why participation and involvement with your local government is important.

Massachusetts town bans overnight truck parking

Truckers running out of hours near Montague, Mass., at night better find safe parking or another town. Montague recently passed a new regulation prohibiting truck parking longer than one hour between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Truckers violating the ordinance will be fined $50. According to the Greenfield Recorder, some residents want the city to go further with commercial vehicle parking restrictions. The town administrator said the overnight restriction “is a good starting point.” Fingers crossed this is the end.

Love’s Travel Stop denied in Texas

Love’s had plans to build a new location in Belton, Texas, but city officials blocked it … twice. That’s despite another truck stop getting its zoning request approved. The Temple Daily Telegram reports that the city was concerned about the “intensity” of the Love’s truck stop. Whereas the other truck stop will have 12 truck parking spaces, the Love’s proposal includes 88. Belton is tolerant of more parking but apparently has an arbitrary line. Residents were worried about all of the truck stop tropes: prostitution, drugs, noise, pollution, lighting and decreased property values.

Truck parking expansion at New York gas station

Truck traffic in Elmira, N.Y., is increasing. Rather than ignore the situation and fine illegally parked trucks, a local gas station wants to accommodate the increased traffic. WETM 18 News reported that the Dandy Mini Mart at 906 E. Church St. wants to add a few more truck parking spots. That’s in addition to a new travel plaza and truck stop coming to the area. Not all parking in New York is a nightmare.

More public truck parking coming to Iowa

Earlier this year, the Iowa Department of Transportation released its fiscal years 2026-30 Transportation Improvement Plan. The state is allocating more than $4 billion in state and federal funding, most of which will go toward improving that safety and condition of existing highways and bridges. That includes adding 45 truck parking spaces at interstate rest areas. Exact locations have yet to be determined. Stay tuned.

Nashville addressing truck parking shortage … kind of

Thanks to the closure of a TravelCenters of America truck stop in 2023, the truck parking situation in Nashville has been getting worse. After receiving numerous complaints from residents, Nashville Council Member Joy Styles is having the Nashville DOT “assess the visibility issues and determine locations for some No Parking signs.”

Although Styles acknowledged that the TA shutdown exacerbated the parking issue, she made no mention of addressing that root problem. Styles said only that the city definitely needs “a permanent fix.” That permanent fix should be giving truckers a place to park and not punishing them for the city’s failure to do so.

Truck parking expansion in West Virginia

The West Virginia DOT has received a nearly $25 million grant from the federal government to increase truck parking capacity at three facilities. That includes:

• Interstate 81, Berkeley County northbound: increase 20 spaces to 55
• I-81, Berkeley County southbound: increase 34 spaces to 41
• Interstate 79, Monongalia County northbound/southbound: six new parking stalls at each location
• Interstate 64, Cabell County: increase 20 spaces to 30

Funding comes from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

New Sheetz in Ohio

Some new parking spaces opened up in Fremont, Ohio, thanks to the opening of a new Sheetz. Located at 3400 N. State Route 53, the new truck stop includes 40 truck parking spots. Other amenities at the Sheetz just south of Interstate 80 include 10 high-flow diesel lines, free Wi-Fi, 24/7 operations and indoor seating. LL